Popular American author Bret Eason Ellis, whose latest novel, Imperial Bedrooms, was just released, has a Twitter account. I follow it.

It’s crazy. I can’t tell if the author’s tweeting style is genuine, ironic, post-ironic, or using the fact that he’s being completely serious as a form of irony, which could maybe just be called ‘advanced.’ Either way, when I’m looking at BEE’s Twitter account, I kind of get the feeling that it’s actually Patrick Bateman in the middle of a nervous breakdown. Look at these selected tweets:

11:36 PM June 18, 2009
The song I’ve listened to the most in the last 5 days: “Halo” by Beyonce.

1:00 PM August 22, 2009
The song I’ve listened to the most in the last 5 days: “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus.

4:54 PM October 05, 2009
At the gym three in a row on the iPod: I’m A Rocker (Springsteen), I’m So Afraid (Fleetwood Mac) and I’m That Type of Guy (L.L. Cool J)…

9:06 AM January 04, 2010
The song I’ve listened to the most in the last five days: “Heartbreak Warfare” by John Mayer.

2:01 PM February 20, 2010
The song I’ve listened to most in the last five days: “Southern Voice” by Tim McGraw…

11:55 PM May 13, 2010
Sufjan Steven’s “Chicago” was arguably the best pop-rock song of the Aughties.

Does anyone else see in these tweets the same brand of terrible, existential despair that runs throughout the author’s oeuvre, most notably in American Psycho and Glamorama? Even the times of day that Bret Easton Ellis tweeted are fascinating.

9:06 AM January 04, 2010
The song I’ve listened to the most in the last five days: “Heartbreak Warfare” by John Mayer.

This at nine in the morning. Seems depressing. Seems like Bret Easton Ellis woke up alone, moaned, got out of bed, made a small portion of scrambled eggs, took a mini bottle of spring water from his refrigerator and sat down with it and his scrambled eggs at his table in front of his already-opened MacBook, looked at Esquire’s and The New Yorker’s websites, went to Twitter and typed, “The song I’ve listened to most in the last five days: ‘Heartbreak Warfare’ by John Mayer.”

Adding another layer of depression to BEE’s tweets is his frequent use of ellipses, like he’s implying “How did my life come to this?” or “Soon I am going to do something weird.”

1:36 AM January 22, 2010
Got into a fight tonight with a screenwriter about why I think the “Last House On The Left” remake is a better movie than “Precious”…

Living with a chronic illness like Hidradenitis Suppurativa alone can be bad for your mental health. You owe it to yourself to find a significant other who wants to be there for you through good times and bad.

[…] it’s hard to tell if he’s being sincere or completely ironic, or as I read on one blog by Branden Scott Gorrell analysing Ellis’ tweeting style, if he is ‘using the fact that he’s being completely serious […]